[Titanic]
SHIPPING CASUALTIES (LOSS OF THE STEAMSHIP - [Titanic] - 1912. [1279234]London, 1912. [2],74pp. Folio. Dbd. Minor wear. Very good. In a blue cloth folder. Uncommon first edition of the official report on the sinking of the Titanic, providing a full accounting of the ship's technical specifications, its journey, and the disaster which took it to the bottom of the North Atlantic. The report gives an account of the damage, saying that water rushed in at such a rate that "the ship's pumps could not possibly have coped, so that the damage done to these five compartments alone inevitably sealed the doom of the ship." The account of rescue gives a breakdown of passengers and crew who made it into the lifeboats: "The real difficulty in dealing with the question of the boats is to find the explanation of so many of them leaving the ship with comparatively few persons in them." Statistical analysis, delineated herein, shows what was to be expected - women and children had the highest survival rate, while first- and second-class passengers had better luck in getting into the boats than did those passengers in steerage. The report makes a point, however, of stating unequivocally that third class passengers were not treated unfairly, and that those steerage passengers who spoke English (and therefore, presumably, understood what was going on) were mostly saved. A fascinating and detailed accounting of this most significant of shipping disasters.
[Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana]